


Candle Boy

by ly_writes



Series: It all started when my dad met my dad... [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Candles, Christmas, Christmas Shopping, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, Secret Santa, bath and body works employee chan, blink and miss it minsung, if you know who Karl Jacobs is and subsequently Candle Girl shhhhh no you don’t, liberal use of the words smell and scent help I need a thesaurus, merry fuckin Christmas you lovely bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28302177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ly_writes/pseuds/ly_writes
Summary: Felix may have left the local Bath and Body Works with a bag of apple and cinnamon-scented products, but he far preferred lavender and jasmine. This liking had nothing to do with the cute worker in the shop with shampoo smelling of the same thing.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Series: It all started when my dad met my dad... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2072907
Comments: 9
Kudos: 102
Collections: Chan's Kitchen Secret Santa 2020





	Candle Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [minhocore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/minhocore/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAGS YOU GORGEOUS BEING I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED YOUR SECRET SANTA!  
> ===  
> I hope you like this chanlix meet-cute! (Definitely not inspired by Karl Jacobs’ stories of candle girl whattttttt)
> 
> EDIT: (1/29/21) WAIT I JUST REALIZED THAT THE SUMMARY HAS SAID “Bath and Bodybuilder Works” FOR A SOLID MONTH THAT AIN’T RIGHT SKHSBZJSAJKAK B O D Y B U I L D E R

“Ahhhhhh.... Motherfucking shit on a stick it is literally too late for this I’m such a terrible friend fucking fuck,” Felix hissed under his breath, nearly bowling over some poor grandma power-walking through the plaza.

His eyes flicked from store to store, searching for something—anything—even slightly tailored to Jisung’s tastes. He was such a fucking trashy friend. What kind of asshat forgets about their friend’s Christmas present? Their twin? Their other half? Their soulmate??? He sighed. He couldn’t do anything about it now. He just had to figure out how to fix this.

His eyes—well, more his nose—landed on the resident Bath and Body Works. It was nearly time for them to close, Felix realized, glancing at the sign posted on the door. He darted in, nearly tripping in his haste, hoping to god that he wasn’t about to get interrupted by some Karen hunting for a fucking Winter Candy Apple candle or something.

Thankfully, the only person in the store was a young man that looked just a bit older than himself, sitting at the counter, tiredly spacing out at his laptop. Handsome, Felix’s hopelessly gay brain supplied. Felix gulped, now hoping that he wasn’t going to interrupt a college student with a deadline and no coffee. He neared the counter, squeezing out a meek, “Hi..?”

The boy lifted his head, looking like he wanted God to plunge him into the ground that very second. Felix watched, a bit fascinated, as the employee in front of him swapped from “tired college student” to “chipper retail worker” in a mere second. “Hello! Welcome to Bath and Body Works! How may I help you?”

“Uhhhh, I forgot my other half’s Christmas present, ‘cause I’m a shit person, and now I need to find a way to make it up to him.” Felix blinked. “You didn’t need to know all that.”

The man paused, an unexplainable look passing across his face. Then, he seemed to shake it off and stood up, laughing. “It’s fine. Do you know what kind of smells he’s a fan of?”

Felix sighed in relief. His eyes caught on the employees name tag, which read, “Chris Bang”. Cute. “Uhm, uh, yeah. He, uh, he likes the smell of apples way too much to not be addicted, and he seems to like what the house smells of when I cook eggnog? The primary spice I use is cinnamon, so uhhh, that.”

Chris smiled, his eyes scrunching into adorable crescents. Oh god, Felix was going to fucking explode. “That’s perfect. I can think of a few candles and soaps. Well, the soaps will be mostly apple-scented, since cinnamon is an irritant on skin.”

Felix broke into his widest grin. “That’s fine! You have no idea what you’ve saved me from. Sungie has the most torturous puppy eyes.”

Chris blinked a few times, looking a bit pained. “No problem. Uh, give me a second.”

Felix frowned. Was he that annoying? Seungmin has once described him as having the energy of a chihuahua on heroin, but surely it wasn’t that bad? He watched apprehensively as Chris bustled around the store, plucking a few products off the shelves.

Felix drifted after him a bit aimlessly, watching the cute boy hum and look through bath products. Eventually, Chris turned around with several red-shaded soaps and bath bombs, as well as a sandy yellow candle. “Errr, this is an apple and orange scented soap, an eggnog candle, this candle’s cinnamon apple, and I found this apricot and spice bath bomb,” he listed, holding out the products.

“Oooh. Uh, Sungie’s allergic to apricots, but I’ll take the other three. Thank you so much! I’ll toss in some chocolate and make him a little care package. He’s gonna love it so much.” Felix grinned widely, placing the goods in his basket.

“Oh! I’m sorry about the apricot,” Chris blushed. Felix almost let out a sob. How could one human being be so goddamn adorable?

“It’s okay! You couldn’t have known.”

“Did you want anything for yourself, or are you just here for, uh, Sungie...?”

“His name’s Jisung. I just call him Sungie ‘cause we’re so close. Anyways, uh, what would you recommend? In terms of candles and uh, things,” Felix stuttered, wanting to prolong the encounter.

Chris brightened. “I’ve been reading a bit into aromatherapy, and it’s quite fascinating. Are there any particular effects you want to achieve?” 

Felix blinked, not expecting to be entertained. He fumbled unintelligibly for a second. “Uhhhhhh, I’m a college student, so, uh.... keep me awake and focused?”

Chris immediately launched into a speech, looking thrilled to have someone to talk to about his interests. If Felix was honest, he was barely listening, and at this point, he just wanted to hear the cutest boy he’d ever seen talk more.

Felix’s eyes strayed over to Chris’s beaming face as he followed the other around the store again. The soft looking skin that he wanted to stroke, the shining eyes Felix would willingly drown in, and the fluffy blond hair Felix could smell a bit of lavender in. 

“...can go ahead and pick a few candles out of these.”

Chris looked at him expectantly as Felix tried to cram his blubbering gay back into a box. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry—I talked for so long, I definitely bored you. I’m sorry about that, I understand if you don’t care for the revitalizing properties of peppermint essential oil,” the poor employee stuttered.

“No! No, no, no. You weren’t boring me at all! Uh, what kind of properties do these candles have?” Felix asked quickly, attempting to save face. Panicking in gay wasn’t always the most convenient thing.

“Well, they all have general refreshing and focusing properties, and these are a bit more nature-scented, and we have some fruity smells here,” Chris said. There were two ocean candles, some floral ones, and a peppermint candle.

Felix spotted a lavender and jasmine candle, and thinking of Chris’s hair, he pointed at it, feeling a bit stalker-ish. “That one looks good. You’ve been so helpful, thank you.”

Smiling wide, the blond picked up the candle and made his way to the counter to begin packing away Felix’s purchases. Felix put away the extra candles for Chris and then dithered at the counter, waffling about whether to ask for his number or not. 

“Here you go!” Chris said, smiling and sliding the bag across the counter. “Have a nice day—er, night, haha!” Oh god. Even his laugh warmed Felix better than any cup of hot chocolate. Before he could overthink any further, his mouth blurted out what had been on his mind.

“CanIpleasehaveyournumber?“

“I-I’m sorry, what?”

Felix coughed. “Uhm, can I please... have your number?”

Chris stood there with his mouth open for a solid three seconds, which was ample time for Felix’s brain to convince him that Chris despised his very being and was going to take him out back and beat his ass. But Felix’s anxious fretting was cut short. 

“You- you aren’t dating Jisung?”

Felix’s eyes widened, and then he fake-gagged. “Eugh, no. He’s my twin, and he’s dating this guy named Minho, who smells a lot like apples, which is why he likes the smell of them so much.”

“Ohhhhh. In that case...” Chris flipped the receipt in his hand over and scribbled down a string of numbers. “Here you go! I guess we’ll be talking more!” He winked, and Felix practically shriveled into a speck of dust right then and there.

He hurriedly grabbed the paper, and the bag of bath products as an afterthought. “I-I’ll text you later!”

He turned, not wanting Chris to see the massively cheesy grin splitting his face, and headed back out into the chill December night. Perhaps he was romanticizing a simple store encounter, but maybe forgetting Jisung’s present was an act of fate. Definitely not the result of him spending a whole month perfecting his Animal Crossing island. 

Carefully tucking the paper into his pocket, Felix skipped away towards his car, a moonlight smile and flowery shampoo occupying his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Chan’s side of things for a part two? Maybe?  
> ===  
> Beta-read by my friends straythoughts (HiraethSatisfied) and nerdaf00! *they’re also on ap3 check them out!!*


End file.
